Observation/Reflection #5 - How Do We Stop This Thing?
Observe how and when your teacher closes his or her lessons and/or activities. How does he or she end each class period? Is there a set routine? If so, describe it. Pay special attention to when you teacher begins to end the class. Does he or she return to the purpose or main idea of the lesson? Does he or she "set up" the homework or the next day's activity? Is the teacher still teaching when the bell rings or are students already poised to leave? Is there some "dead time" at the end of the class period? If so, how much? How do students react to your teacher's closing strategies? Remember that these questions are a guide and that you don't have to answer each one. Be sure you reflect on your observations and describe how you will try to end your classes. What supports for these ideas might you include in your lesson plans?
Observations:
My CT at the middle school has closed some lessons with homework or a journal entry. Other times she has put a question on the board and has the students write some ideas for a discussion the next class. Some times she runs out of time and there is no closing or homework. My CT usually will teach a lesson or do a lab and then read about it in the text and discuss it to help students synthesize the information. This is her usual routine. So far I have not experienced much dead time at all, there is usually not even enough time to finish. If she does not finish she opens the next class with a short discussion to tie everything together.
Reflections:
I am now used to how my CT does things. I know why she does her lessons and follows them up with the reading from the text. I have seen that it works so far so that is how I plan to design my lessons. Although classes are not rushed, every teacher seems pressed for time. I believe that starting or ending with a small discussion or question helps students recall and process information that was learned. I remember as a middle school student that most of the time we never went back and talked about what we had learned, now I look back and think "what a waste". I understand the importance of telling the students exactly why it is important to know about the lesson being taught. I think that the opening and closing of a class can be used to do this and to reinforce information.
Class Topic: Ending a lesson
Grade: 6 Talia Delmonico
Observed by:
Observation/Reflection #5 - How Do We Stop This Thing?
Observe how and when your teacher closes his or her lessons and/or activities. How does he or she end each class period? Is there a set routine? If so, describe it. Pay special attention to when you teacher begins to end the class. Does he or she return to the purpose or main idea of the lesson? Does he or she "set up" the homework or the next day's activity? Is the teacher still teaching when the bell rings or are students already poised to leave? Is there some "dead time" at the end of the class period? If so, how much? How do students react to your teacher's closing strategies? Remember that these questions are a guide and that you don't have to answer each one. Be sure you reflect on your observations and describe how you will try to end your classes. What supports for these ideas might you include in your lesson plans?Observations:
My CT at the middle school has closed some lessons with homework or a journal entry. Other times she has put a question on the board and has the students write some ideas for a discussion the next class. Some times she runs out of time and there is no closing or homework. My CT usually will teach a lesson or do a lab and then read about it in the text and discuss it to help students synthesize the information. This is her usual routine. So far I have not experienced much dead time at all, there is usually not even enough time to finish. If she does not finish she opens the next class with a short discussion to tie everything together.Reflections:
I am now used to how my CT does things. I know why she does her lessons and follows them up with the reading from the text. I have seen that it works so far so that is how I plan to design my lessons. Although classes are not rushed, every teacher seems pressed for time. I believe that starting or ending with a small discussion or question helps students recall and process information that was learned. I remember as a middle school student that most of the time we never went back and talked about what we had learned, now I look back and think "what a waste". I understand the importance of telling the students exactly why it is important to know about the lesson being taught. I think that the opening and closing of a class can be used to do this and to reinforce information.Class Topic: Ending a lesson
Grade: 6
Talia Delmonico
Observed by: